Jazz Festival

Songwriter, pianist, vocalist, and activist Nina Simone was one of the most significant musical artists of the 20th century, creating music for the Civil Rights Movement that spanned a wide variety of genres ranging from Jazz to Blues to Classical to Gospel. Honoring this legendary and prolific musician will be a 5-piece ensemble featuring Asheville-NC based vocalists Kelle Jolly and Reggie Headen, accompanied by a trio consisting of WNC locals Derrick Gardner (piano), Connor Law (bass) and Jason DeCristofaro (drums).

Inspired by the Asheville area’s rich art history and the open-mindedness of its music audiences; drummer-composer Alan Miguel Hall formed AJC as an outlet for both his varied creative influences and for collaboration with the musical peers he’s met since moving to Asheville in 2019. Consisting of a rotating group of 9 diverse musicians, AJC is a flexible unit by design in order to enable maximum creative freedom within each performance, as well as from performance to performance. The AJC quintet coming to Tryon Fine Arts Center features violinist Christian Howes, multi-reed-man Will Boyd, vibist Jason DeCristofaro, bassist Josef Butts and Hall on drums.

Tickets on sale soon!

A taste of the Low Country comes to the foothills when the Mountains to the Sea Jazz Series serves up some of Charleston’s finest and most talented musicians and creatives. GRAMMY award winner Quentin Baxter is a percussionist, composer, educator and prominent figure in the jazz community of his native Charleston, SC. Baxter will be joined by the multi-talented poet and musician Marcus Amaker.

Baxter is Co-Principal of Charleston Jazz Initiative and drummer for the band Ranky Tanky. Amaker is the first Poet Laureate of Charleston. In addition to poetry, Amaker is an opera librettist. His debut opera, The Weight of Light, will premiere in 2024 for the Chicago Opera Theater. In 2019, Amaker won a Governor’s Arts Award in South Carolina, and was named the artist-in-residence of the Gaillard Center, Charleston’s world-renowned performance and education venue.
The collaboration of these two incredibly creative individuals will delight foothills jazz aficionados to close out the series.